On June 29, the fourth meeting of the group on interaction and cooperation of five projects was held: Cata3Pult, Cool4City, BBC1, LALAPETE and CroBoDDIT of the Cross-Border Cooperation Program "South-Eastern Finland – Russia 2014-2020".

During the meeting, the upcoming events were discussed:

• August 23-25, 2021 Food BioTech Conference at ITMO University in St. Petersburg (BBC1 project).
  Within the framework of this conference, a round table "Cooperation of science and business in the field of biotechnologies and closed economy projects South-Eastern Finland – Russia" will be held on August 23. The content of the event is currently being discussed and will be informed later on the BBC1 project website.
  We invite you to take part in this round table as a speaker / participant. All the current information about the conference is available on the official website of the Food BioTech Conference 2021 and on Facebook;
• August 26, 2021 14:00-17:00 seminar-webinar "Implementation of the principles of circular economy in retail chains of St. Petersburg and Finland". Rational waste management, problems and solutions. The format of the round table. Simultaneous translation of Rus-Fin-Rus. Online participation is possible. More information later on the BBC1 project website;
• September 2, 2021 webinar of the Cata3Pult expert group "Solutions for energy efficiency and heat recovery of the Earth for residential and public buildings from a business point of view". The program will be published in August 2021;
• September 13-15, 2021 Future Energy Solutions conference in Lappeenranta (Cata3Pult project).
  On September 15, the conference will host a seminar on "Reducing the carbon footprint of residential buildings and social infrastructure buildings, mobility and logistics, as well as the efficiency of municipal waste management". Read more about this on the website;
• On October 5, 2021, "Upcycle! The event "Circular Economy and Design" in Lappeenranta (LALAPETE project).

On June 11, the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SPb CCI) hosted a meeting of project partners Cata3Pult, BBC1, Cool4City with representatives of the Environmental movement "Separate Collection". The meeting was attended by representatives of the SPb CCI. It was decided to hold joint actions and joint participation in events held within the framework of projects under the cross-border cooperation Program "South-Eastern Finland – Russia 2014-2020", including those that will be held on the basis of the SPb CCI.

On June 2, a round table was held at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF'21) : "Water pollution by microplastics as an actual problem of our time".

The round table was moderated by the Director of the Association of Environmental Partnerships (NP "AsEP") Boris Krylov and Olga Senova, Chairman of the Board of the interregional environmental organization "Friends of the Baltic".

The reports and presentations at the round table were presented by Mikhail Strakhov, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Nature Management, Environmental Protection and Environmental Safety of St. Petersburg, Pavel Mikhailov, Director of the Nature Management Directorate of the State Unitary Enterprise Vodokanal of St. Petersburg, Shamil Pozdnyakov, Director of the Institute of Lake Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexandra Yershova, Associate Professor of the Russian State Hydrometeorological University, and other specialists.

The main ways of microplastics entering the water area of the region (Lake Ladoga – Gulf of Finland) were considered and its increasing accumulation in all media was noted.

The discussions highlighted not only the relevance of continuing research, but also the importance of reducing the use of single-use plastic, as well as the proper disposal of reusable plastic. It was noted that new strategies and technologies for handling plastic are needed.

The development of rational approaches in this direction can be facilitated by the developments of the projects of the cross-border cooperation Program "South-Eastern Finland – Russia 2014-2020": BBC1 "Business in biotechnology and circular economy" and Cool4City "Clean green city by smart waste management".

Photos from the event can be viewed in the album.